In the wake of drastic cuts to the British armed forces, Dr Hugh Milroy, CEO
of Veterans Aid explains why he feels the problem of former service
personnel becoming homeless is being exaggerated.

A study by York University in 2008 found that around six per cent of London's homeless population was ex military and this is the figure most often quoted when discussing the problem.

But Dr Milroy believes the actual figure is closer to three per cent and that includes people who "allege a military connection of some sort, thats not to say they were in the military but those people identify themselves as being ex-military".

The latest figures available from the Combined Homelessness and Information Network (Chain) a database commissioned and funded by the Greater London Authority seem to support the three per cent figure.

The report says that of the homeless people interviewed by outreach workers; "the proportion of those of all nationalities known to have served in the armed forces was seven per cent. Amongst UK nationals, three per cent (36 people) were known to have served in the armed forces at some point."

"We are in a financial crisis (and) the reality is that (for) some people its not in their interests to do anything other than 'big-up' the problem. I've seen one charity claiming 80,000 homeless veterans, that's the size of the British Army, its a nonsense," Dr Milroy explained.

The 80,000 number comes from a charity called EXMoDLtd and represents 20 per cent of the 400,000 'hidden homeless' total they claim is used by the homeless support charity Crisis.

Crisis define the 'hidden homeless' as those people who, while qualifying for the legal definition of homelessness, "exist out of sight in bed and breakfasts, squats, on the floors or sofas of friends and families or sleeping rough" and so aren;t included in official figures of homelessness."

However Crisis do not recognise the number of 400,000 saying only that they estimate "there are tens of thousands of hidden homeless people in Britain".

Mary Howe, a ExMoDLtd trustee, told The Telegraph: "Nobody can ever know the precise number of homeless ex-servicemen, short of going out and counting them. Plus, a lot of these men are so proud they would never admit they had been in the armed forces. We're satisfied that the 'hidden homeless' figure is very high.

"We were given the figure of 400,000 'hidden homeless' in good faith. Now that Crisis have made clear they do not support that number we will remove it from our website."

The circumstances that lead to veterans becoming homeless are the same as those which affect non military personnel according to Dr Milroy as a struggling economy and a stagnant housing market make finding a home hard for anyone under the age of 35.

According to Dr Milroy the number of homeless veterans may also be inflated by people on the street claiming a military service record when in fact they either hadn't served or had only been in the forces for a very short time.

"We've found people that tell you they've served ten years when if fact they've served three weeks but I think inevitably people are waking up to the fact that actually (veterans) are well cared for, there are systems in place and if all else fails you end up at Veterans Aid and we will sort you out," he said.